A Little Night Music

Gerard Way - My Chemical Romance
CIA Cardiff

Well Monday night I went to see My Chemical Romance at the CIA in Cardiff. Terrified I was going to be the oldest member of the audience I emo’d up and after a liberal application of eye liner I felt ready to face the crowd.

As it turns out I wasn’t the only grown up there. There were plenty of us. Granted most of them did seem to be chaperoning their ‘yoof’ but for my own self confidence I neatly ignored that fact.



The Blackout

The concert was very good. Not much interaction with the audience but they came, they performed well and they left. I suppose you can’t really ask for much more. I’m not a huge fan but I do like some of their tracks and if I’m perfectly honest, after a busy couple of months I really needed to let my hair down. So I did and had a cracking, wild night.

The highlight of the night though was undoubtedly Welsh band ‘The Blackout’ who were supporting. They played their wee souls out and barely stopped chatting with the crowd. They even had us all kneel down which is an interesting vantage point for a rock concert!

On a rather different musical note, I’m going to see a singer/songwriter called ‘Teddy Thompson’ at the Glee Club tonight. If I’m honest, I have no idea who he is or what his music is like but tickets were reasonable and there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of mystery on a Wednesday night.

Personally I’m hoping for a mellow, eyeliner free evening. I’ll keep you posted.

Teddy Thompson

This Is War . . . But Not As We Know It

Well after several listens to the third & much hyped 30 Seconds To Mars album, I feel that I am now finally in a position to comment on it.

It's not really very good.

Not the harshest criticism the band has received for it's latest release, i'm sure, but still I think it's a fair review.  It's not bad that's for sure, oh no I would never go that far. It's just not that good either. Despite the massive production on some tracks it still manages to feel like something produced by a band that got themselves a brand new Yamaha keyboard for Christmas.  A really good yamaha, top of the line and all that, not like the ones you and I would have been gifted, but still, the result is the same. 

What's worse though are the rather awful lyrics.  Now as a supposed EMO band I give them a pretty easy ride on the lyrics front anyway, but this is just appaling.  Cliche after cliche seeps from every pore of this album.  Here's an example.  Have a gander at the snappy opening to Search & Destroy:

"Grab your gun. Time to go to hell.  I'm no hero.  Guilty as charged.  Search & Destroy"

I think my point has been made!